Lesson 7, N+IV Sentences - I scream, you scream, we
all scream for ice cream:

This sentence pattern consists of a Subject Noun
and an Intransitive Verb. We have explained Subject Nouns in other
lessons, but have only touched on Intransitive Verbs. The name itself
means it cannot carry action across the sentence from the Subject to an Object.
That means that the action stops with the verb. Examples: I sleep. We think. My mother wonders. My
father relaxes. The subject performs the action
and generally is the only one affected by it.

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BUT, most sentences with Intransitive Verbs
contain other words in addition to the subject and the verb. These extra
words will either describe the subject more fully or tell when, where, why or
how the action took place. Look at the following example.

John sings. (This is
complete and correct as it stands, but it does not tell us very much.)

John sings every Sunday.
(Now we know when John sings.)

John sings every Sunday in
church. (Now we know when and where John sings.)

John sings with the choir
every Sunday in church. (This gives us an idea of why he sings.)

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These additional words certainly tell us more
about John's singing, but they do not change the fact that the original, basic
sentence is John sings. Here are some more examples.

With each of the Intransitive sentences, if we
ask , "We swim what? Authors write what? Pythons swallow what?",
there is no answer within the sentence.
With the other sentences, if we ask, "We
swim what?" the answer is right there - laps. "Authors write what?
novels. Pythons swallow what? their prey." That is the way you
determine if a verb is transitive or intransitive. A sentence with a
transitive verb will provide an answer to the what/whom question, while a
sentence with an intransitive verb can only answer "where?" or "when?" or "Why?"
or "How?".

Exercise A: Put an X on the line after the
verbs that are or can be Intransitive. Use the What/When question to
figure them out.

Use these words or phrases to complete those
sentences in Exercise A that have Intransitive Verbs. Write the complete
sentences on the lines below. With the words or phrases that are left
over, add your own subjects and verbs and write the complete sentences on the
remaining lines below. You should have ten complete sentences when you are
finished.

Examination: The following ten
sentences contain Transitive verbs, with an Object to receive the action.
Rewrite each sentence using the same subject and verb while dropping the object
of the verb, the receiver, and replacing it with words that answer Where? When?
Why? or How?.

Examples: Martin sang a love song.
(he sang what? a love song) change it to
Martin sang in the shower.
(Martin sang where? in the shower.)